DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0443
OF THE MILITARY AFFAIRS OF GREECE.
421
battle with faces uncovered ; to the side was fixed a string, whereby it
was tied to the warrior's neck. This was termed e^s, whence Homer
speaks of Paris thus (1) ;
Struggling he followed, while the embroider'd thong
That ty'd his helmet, dragg'd the chief along. tope.
Some of its parts received their names from the members guarded by them,
as aQpiiss, that part which covered the eye-brows, and the rest in like
manner. The little lappet erected over the brow was, by a metaphori-
cal term, called ysTtfov, the pent-house. But the most remarkable of all the
parts in the helmet was its crest, termed tpWkos, and \»0o<; (2), which was
first used by^he Cariaus (3), and thence called by Alczeus Ko^ixos hoQes.
For the Carians were once famous for military exploits, and obliged the
world with this and several other inventions : hence we are told by Thu-
cydides (4), that it was customary for them to reposit a little shield and
an helmet in the graves of their dead. Some will have <p*kc<; to be distin-
guished from "hdQog, that signifying the conus, this the plume fixed to it (b) ;
but others allow no difference between them. The former of these was
composed of various materials, most of which were rich and chargeable,
being designed as an ornament to the helmet. The other likewise was
adorned with divers sorts of paint ; whence Pollux gives it the epithets of
£5av#jj£, vaxiv8tvo5at<P})'< (6). Homer has enriched it with gold (7) ;
One of Virgil's heroes has his whole helmet of gold, and his crest paint-
ed red (8) ; The crest was for the most part of feathers, or the hair of
horses tails, or manes ; whence we read of XoQos !tf9rox*<Vas, wgvg i5rero<?a-
tfua, stftfiisis. The common soldiers had only small crests ; the great of-
ficers, and all persons of quality, were distinguished by plumes of a larger
size, and frequently took a pride in wearing two, three, or four together.
Suidas will have Geryon to have been famous in poetry for three heads,
on no other account but because his helmet was adorned with three crests.
Virgil describes Turnus's headpiece after the same manner (9), adding
also to it the figure of a chimera:
Cui triplici crinitajuba galea alta chim&ram
Sustinet---
Whose triple-crested helmet did sustain
A terrible chimera.
This helmet was called rgvtpdXua; when it was surrounded with plumes,
<i(A0i'0aXo{ ; and when adorned with four, rerpxQabos Thus Apollo-
nius (10) :
A four-fold plume with dazzling lustre shone,
Whose nodding top o'erlook'd the dreadful cone.
The design of these was to strike terror into the enemies ; whence that
of Homer (11) :
(1) Iliad, y. v. 371. (6) Lib. i. cap. 10. (7) Iliad, r. 610.
(2) Hesychius, &c. (8) iEneid. ix. 49.
(3) Herodot. Clio Strabo, lib. xiv. (9) iEneid. vit. v. 785. (10) Lib, nl
(4) Lib. i. (5)Suidas, Ac, (31) Iliad, iii.
421
battle with faces uncovered ; to the side was fixed a string, whereby it
was tied to the warrior's neck. This was termed e^s, whence Homer
speaks of Paris thus (1) ;
Struggling he followed, while the embroider'd thong
That ty'd his helmet, dragg'd the chief along. tope.
Some of its parts received their names from the members guarded by them,
as aQpiiss, that part which covered the eye-brows, and the rest in like
manner. The little lappet erected over the brow was, by a metaphori-
cal term, called ysTtfov, the pent-house. But the most remarkable of all the
parts in the helmet was its crest, termed tpWkos, and \»0o<; (2), which was
first used by^he Cariaus (3), and thence called by Alczeus Ko^ixos hoQes.
For the Carians were once famous for military exploits, and obliged the
world with this and several other inventions : hence we are told by Thu-
cydides (4), that it was customary for them to reposit a little shield and
an helmet in the graves of their dead. Some will have <p*kc<; to be distin-
guished from "hdQog, that signifying the conus, this the plume fixed to it (b) ;
but others allow no difference between them. The former of these was
composed of various materials, most of which were rich and chargeable,
being designed as an ornament to the helmet. The other likewise was
adorned with divers sorts of paint ; whence Pollux gives it the epithets of
£5av#jj£, vaxiv8tvo5at<P})'< (6). Homer has enriched it with gold (7) ;
One of Virgil's heroes has his whole helmet of gold, and his crest paint-
ed red (8) ; The crest was for the most part of feathers, or the hair of
horses tails, or manes ; whence we read of XoQos !tf9rox*<Vas, wgvg i5rero<?a-
tfua, stftfiisis. The common soldiers had only small crests ; the great of-
ficers, and all persons of quality, were distinguished by plumes of a larger
size, and frequently took a pride in wearing two, three, or four together.
Suidas will have Geryon to have been famous in poetry for three heads,
on no other account but because his helmet was adorned with three crests.
Virgil describes Turnus's headpiece after the same manner (9), adding
also to it the figure of a chimera:
Cui triplici crinitajuba galea alta chim&ram
Sustinet---
Whose triple-crested helmet did sustain
A terrible chimera.
This helmet was called rgvtpdXua; when it was surrounded with plumes,
<i(A0i'0aXo{ ; and when adorned with four, rerpxQabos Thus Apollo-
nius (10) :
A four-fold plume with dazzling lustre shone,
Whose nodding top o'erlook'd the dreadful cone.
The design of these was to strike terror into the enemies ; whence that
of Homer (11) :
(1) Iliad, y. v. 371. (6) Lib. i. cap. 10. (7) Iliad, r. 610.
(2) Hesychius, &c. (8) iEneid. ix. 49.
(3) Herodot. Clio Strabo, lib. xiv. (9) iEneid. vit. v. 785. (10) Lib, nl
(4) Lib. i. (5)Suidas, Ac, (31) Iliad, iii.